In “Color Me Purple,” my book for children ages 8-12, the character Gommgi is music smart. She loves music and is recognized for the excellence of her piano performances. In this photo, I met a music smart child in the making. The research says that smart children often hum and sing early, have the ability to reproduce songs easily, show a strong desire to play an instrument, and display an emotional sensitivity to music. Little Maeve, while playing at her Grandma’s, broke into lullaby as she hugged and rocked her doll. She decided her lilting version of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” needed piano accompaniment, and after playing one chorus invited me to join her in a duet version. Yes, Maeve definitely is showing an early love and talent in music!

In Color Me Purple, in the text box about “Art Smart and More,” I mention that visual-spatial learners may be late bloomers, may not pay attention or follow step-by-step rules, and may not conform to the definition of smart that most people in our society believe in. In other words, they see the world in a different way.

So what does visual-spatial learner mean and who do you know who learns in this way? This question has become very personal to me. When I wrote the book, it was based on children I had worked with through the Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth (WCATY), and not about my family. But this year, one of my grandsons has been identified as a visual-spatial learner, and as twice exceptional. It was time for me to delve a little deeper.

First I wanted to read and discuss Color Me Purple with him, one-on-one. My purpose in writing the book was for children from all different backgrounds and with all different kinds of interests and skills to know that smartness or intelligence was not limited to the kids who were identified as gifted because of their reading or math abilities. This was especially important now, because this grandson’s little brother had been so identified in kindergarten and was thriving in school. Yet, year by year the older boy was becoming less and less self-confident and more and more emotional when he thought he was less than “the best” (or whatever his definition of acceptable was) in anything. It helped that he’d now been tested and told by an authority (the psychologist) that he was gifted, yet ongoing reinforcement of what that meant was going to be important.

I also sent his parents to the best authority and book I know on the topic: Upside Down Brilliance by Linda Kreger Silverman. Here is some of what they learned.

Visual-spatial learners think in images or pictures. They “are excellent observers, comprehend holistically—may have sudden ‘Aha’ understanding that leaps over steps—may need translation time to put their ideas into words, and sometimes have word retrieval problems. Their thinking and emotions are intertwined.”

Two things about that definition really struck me in relation to our situation. I already knew about thinking in pictures and many of the other characteristics, but one of my grandson’s increasing problems in school was his need for time to get his very complex thoughts into words, i.e., more time for testing. Another was how his emotional needs were growing exponentially as his thinking he was not smart was spiraling him into turmoil.

What does twice-exceptional mean? I had taught twice-exceptional learners in schools and at WCATY, but now my own grandson was, in a sense, crying out for help. I’d thought he was underachieving, but I hadn’t thought of twice-exceptionality, which Linda Silverman says means gifted with learning disabilities. These are kids who fall through the cracks in school because they perform at or a bit above the norm in school and thus do not qualify for special education support. As we’ve’ve already established, they also don’t qualify for the gifted programs because their high intelligence is right-brained (visual) versus left-brained (auditory) based.

Like Linda Silverman, and I am guessing many if not most of my readers, I am a left-brained learner. I wrote Color Me Purple because I know not all children learn like me, and I want them to have a fair chance to grow up loving who they are and becoming all they can and wish to be. In the fall of 2017 my twice-exceptional grandson will be entering high school. I hope he will be appreciated for his exceptional abilities and that those abilities will be developed as his weaknesses are also being strengthened.

Learning has always been and is very important in our household. We encourage our grandkids’ learning in a variety of ways. We think you have to tailor the learning to the child ‘s needs. That being said, we try to get books that help develop the kids’ interests and the work they are doing in school. For example, my grandson loves sports so we will finds sports books, magazines for him. My granddaughter loves science so we get books, games that speak to her interest in the science. We also connect them to people or events that can enhance their learnings. For example, they attended science camp, a two-week computer-coding class, Millionaire’s Club, and a variety of activities so they can have

Corinda Rainey

exposure to different things, ideas, career options, etc. In addition, we encourage them by asking questions, doing research, and reading. We also have family game times where we play a variety of board games that not only teach them sportsmanship but how to play with others. In addition, they all have library cards and belong to a book club at Barnes and Noble. We make reading fun by having a healthy competition on the number of books read. We also encourage all of our grandchildren to learn something new each day even if it is a new word.

On Saturday, Dec. 10 I had the honor of discussing Color Me Purple and the concepts and theories behind it on “All About Living with Carol Koby” on Hank AM radio 1550 & 97.7 FM.

Carol introduced the program in the following way: “In her latest book, Color Me Purple, author and educator, Ellie Schatz, tells the fictionalized story of 8 children from 8 different ethnic and cultural backgrounds who are smart in 8 different ways. It shows all children that they have different kinds of smart inside them, and knowing about their kinds of smart will help them to be who they want to be. The book is illustrated by Donna J. Parker and written for children 8-12. Ellie describes the broad range of smarts from math smart to sports smart and how these smarts can be supported and applied today to help children develop their fullest potential. Ellie Schatz is the founder and former president of the Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth and also authored, Grandma Says It’s Good to Be Smart.”

Like this:

How do you encourage curiosity in your child (between the ages of 8-12) and keep him or her asking questions?

Donna & I are excited to provide two people with free copies of our children’s book Color Me Purple. Donna says, “Color Me Purple is more than a book. There is the compelling storyline that provides information about 8 different types of intelligence (yes there is more than one) that we call ‘smarts.’ It is a flip-book and your child can make the butterfly — fly. Finally, and perhaps most importantly there are Information boxes, to be used for discussion about each smart. Empower your child!” I love this because it is Donna and layout designer Seth who provided all the creativity!

TO ENTER

Answer the question in the box above in 150 words or less.
Enter your answer below in the comments box or on http://www.theartofnow.org OR on the Color Me Purple book give-away posts found on my Facebook or Donna’s Facebook page.

Contest Deadline: Saturday, December 10, 2016

The 2 winners will be selected and announced on Sunday, December 11, 2016

The purpose of Color Me Purple is to help children understand that a) there are many different ways to be smart, and b) there are probably many more smart kids in their classes and schools than they ever imagined. To enhance the story and make it more meaningful for mature readers and the adults in their lives, there are 18 text boxes, or aside explanations of the concepts and theories behind the story.

The first three of these topics — Introduction to Smart and Related Terms, Thinking and Questioning, and Multiples Intelligences are introduced on the Tips page of this blog. In the coming week, I will introduce the remaining 15 topics on that page as well.

One parent wrote of Color Me Purple: “The knowledge box about “Passion and Practice” resonated most with me today. Towards the bottom of page 13, you wrote, ‘Extrinsic motivations feed a student’s intrinsic motivation to work at becoming better. The challenge for teachers and parents is to encourage practice without killing intrinsic motivation.’ As I read that, I thought to myself, ‘Ain’t that the truth?!?’”

She went on to explain the fine line between encouraging and discouraging her 10-year-old son’s intrinsic interest in piano: “I’d noticed that he’d been spending a lot of his free time messing around at the piano whenever he had a spare moment, plunking out songs that he was attempting to sight read from music we happened to have laying around, or just playing by ear. I suggested to him that we set up piano lessons, and he agreed to give it a try. But, when songs were giving him trouble, he quickly became frustrated, and wanted to give up and quit. It became a battle for me to try to convince him to keep practicing.

“That’s when I realized that he was no longer playing JOYFULLY as he had been when he was playing for HIMSELF rather than playing to please someone else. As much as I value the important life lesson of developing grit and perseverance, I also want to value and honor my son’s desire to do what makes him happy, and I want to be sure that I am helping to nurture his talent rather than squelch it! One day he approached me calmly and explained to me that he LIKES playing the piano but that he does NOT LIKE taking lessons. He promised that if I would let him quit piano lessons he would continue playing on his own, for fun. So that’s what we did.

“Now he is playing the piano more than ever — by himself on his own terms. He’s not shying away from challenge either. I hadn’t realized that adding extrinsic pressure would threaten his intrinsic motivation in such an extreme way, and I’m relieved that we were able to restore his intrinsic desire to pursue his music smart!”